Squash

MIT Posts 1-2 Record at CSA Team Championships to Finish Season Ranked No. 39

Feb 26, 2007

Feb. 26, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - MIT's squash team closed out the 2006-07 campaign ranked No. 39 nationally after posting a 1-2 record at the Collegiate Squash Association Team Championships, hosted by Yale University this past weekend. The Engineers fell to eventual division champion Colgate University and the University of Southern California by similar 6-3 score-lines before defeating the University of Notre Dame, 8-1.

Tech finished the season with a record of 2-13.

Sophomore Balaji Sridhar and freshman George Pratt were the Cardinal and Gray's top performers over the course of the weekend, as both competitors went an undefeated 3-0.

Sridhar, playing out of the No. 6 position, opened the weekend with a hard-fought five game battle against Colgate's Reuben Nathanson. After jumping out to a two game lead, Sridhar briefly faltered before finishing off Nathanson in a thrilling final game. The Denver, Colo., native's second match, which pitted him against USC's Diarijau Kathiwada, was a welcome respite, as he easily dispatched of his opponent, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0. Sridhar had another convincing win (9-3, 9-2, 9-1) over Notre Dame's Pedro Gochicoa to finish out the weekend.

Pratt, Tech's No. 9 player, made easy work of his first opponent, Colgate's Tim Vechhione, taking the match in straight games (9-3, 9-5, 9-0). He then had to come from behind against USC's Manik Khanna to snatch a 7-9, 9-1, 5-9, 9-5, 9-5, victory, before returning to earn another straight-games triumph over Notre Dame's Thomas Lee (9-0, 9-1, 9-3).

Sophomore Saad Zaheer grabbed MIT's third win against Colgate, while graduate student Ashwin Deshpande was the Engineers' other victor in the match with USC.